Chapter 51
Multiverse Live Streaming Room.
This forced task, although it seemed simple, was actually quite difficult.
The task clearly stated that the streamer had to “play the role of a spoiled and domineering young master” while also getting Yu Ming to “actively feed him grapes.” These two goals were easy to accomplish separately, but together, they posed a challenge for many streamers.
After all, Yu Ming was not someone who would submit to power.
He wanted to make money, but he had his own bottom line. Once that line was crossed, he would leave without hesitation.
But without using power, it was easy to ruin the character of the domineering young master, which would lead to failure.
Thus, a seemingly simple task had already taken nearly two hours, with nearly half the streamers eliminated, and the remaining streamers were still struggling, unsure of how to solve the problem.
The fastest progress was made by a streamer who had unlocked the mind-reading skill. While playing the role of the domineering young master, he used mind-reading to subtly understand Yu Ming’s thoughts, guiding him step by step to complete the task…
Because he was the most likely to succeed, the streamer’s popularity skyrocketed, and within just half an hour, his viewers increased by 50-60 thousand.
Everyone thought he would be the first to complete the task.
…Until Jian Yunlan’s success announcement popped up.
The entire Multiverse Live Streaming Room erupted!
[Jian Yunlan, why is it always Jian Yunlan, who exactly is he?!]
[If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t it him who broke through the “Paranoid Domination” world before? And the one who saved Liang Liang? And the main character in “The Three-Year Term is Up” video was him too?!]
[That man 🙂 ]
[Simple and pure, blue skies and white clouds, always together, click to follow and never get lost~~~]
[…How did he complete the task?]
[The following might sound absurd, but it’s all true: Boss Jian arrogantly asked Yu Ming to help with his fruit salad stall, which caused Yu Ming to fully awaken his innate grape-peeling abilities, turning him into a heartless grape-peeling machine, and then—]
Multiverse Livestreaming Room’s official account posted a screenshot:
Jian Yunlan, wearing a floral apron, was standing beside the stall, tired from selling food. But as Yu Ming, now obsessed with peeling and placing grapes, suddenly shoved a grape into his mouth without warning.
In the official screenshot, Jian Yunlan looked bewildered, with a large, round grape in his mouth.
The Multiverse Livestreaming Room’s official account thoughtfully added a red “Mission Completed!” stamp next to the screenshot.
The audience: “…”
Official, you’re truly a genius with screenshots!
Fortunately, Jian Yunlan’s handsome appearance could carry even such a disastrous screenshot angle… But still, no matter how you looked at it, the screenshot was hilarious!
A touch of handsomeness mixed with a bit of humor, cuteness with a hint of ridiculousness.
Meme made!
No one knows who the genius was, but as soon as the screenshot was posted, someone quickly turned it into a meme.
In Jian Yunlan’s livestream, with over 200,000 viewers and a constant stream of new viewers, everyone started spamming the meme:
[It was always Boss Jian making the protagonists of dog-blood dramas look foolish, but now the roles are reversed, and it’s the protagonist making Boss Jian look foolish, hahahaha]
[Ming Ming: Reviving the glory of the dog-blood drama protagonist, it’s our duty!]
[Boss Jian didn’t know, Boss Jian just wanted to quietly sell fruit salad (Boss Jian eating grapes.jpg)]
[You old people are so bad, stop spreading our Boss Jian’s meme, okay? Okay. (Boss Jian eating grapes.jpg)]
[Let’s set up a stall, glad you all have your own opinions on setting up stalls (Boss Jian eating grapes.jpg)]
[(Boss Jian eating grapes.jpg)]
[…6]
[Aren’t you all tired after earning so many degrees? Ahhhh!]
[Hurry and stop Ning Shen, he’s already printing out this photo, saying he’s going to keep Boss Jian’s handsome pictures to enjoy while eating, it’s like eating Boss Jian’s fruit salad himself (tremble)—From “Paranoid Domination” world character Li Mingxi]
[Mingxi, bro, don’t rush, listen to me, you get Ning Baby to buy a few strawberries, a couple of yellow peaches, five money’s worth of Oreos, served with icy yogurt, three servings per course, you can take it before or after meals, and pairing it with Boss Jian’s livestream replay has even better effects (Boss Jian eating grapes.jpg)]
[The comments are all a mess now, everyone, drink while it’s hot!]
[Porridge is good, when will Boss Jian sell porridge? I want to watch, I want to drink (drools)…]
[You guys, Blue Sky and White Clouds, truly only care about oil and salt!!!]
[By the way, every time the first streamer to complete the task gets a special reward from Multiverse, right? What’s Boss Jian’s reward?]
Because of the special nature and difficulty of the forced task, each session of the book-crossing challenge, the first streamer to complete the task gets a mysterious reward from Multiverse.
This reward can often cross multiple worlds. After receiving the reward, no matter which world the streamer travels to, they will always have that reward.
Previously, one streamer was rewarded with the ability to earn money, essentially an endless supply of the currency from whichever world they visited. Another streamer received a portal, allowing them to travel freely between worlds, returning to the Multiverse world whenever they chose…
So, what’s Boss Jian’s reward?
After continuous prodding from the audience, the Multiverse Livestreaming Room finally revealed the news:
[To reward streamer [Jian Yunlan] for being the first to complete the forced main task challenge, streamer [Jian Yunlan] has received:]
[Boss Jian’s Mobile Castle x1]
[Note: Jian Family Villa, Boss Jian’s warm harbor, with housekeepers and servants always being the young master’s strongest support!]
[Once activated, the Jian Family Villa can appear anywhere in the current world, and all the hired staff in the villa will no longer be forcibly recruited as NPCs, but will gain independent consciousness and form a direct employment relationship with Boss Jian.]
Whoa.
This was the first time I’ve seen such a reward.
The audience immediately began to fervently discuss it.
*
“Dark River, Bright Light” World.
Jian Yunlan only felt a flash of darkness before everything lit up again.
When he opened his eyes, he was already sitting in a luxurious Maybach, with the familiar soft leather seat beneath him, and the chatter of his driver, Xiao Li:
“Young master, I say, in the future, you should avoid these late-night KTV outings, it’s not good for your health. You’re already working hard enough every day with your stall…”
The strange feeling about Xiao Li had disappeared, and he was back to being the familiar chatterbox Xiao Li.
Jian Yunlan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
After taking that breath, he suddenly remembered—
Wait, he left, so what will happen to his fruit salad stall?
*
KTV.
The customers stared in disbelief at the empty fruit salad stall in front of them.
The moment Yu Ming shoved the grape into Boss Jian’s mouth—
A group of well-dressed bodyguards stormed in, forcefully took Jian Yunlan away, and shoved him into a luxurious Maybach.
The fruits and yogurt on the stall had just run out. Over the past hour, roughly one or two hundred servings of fruit salad had been sold, so it was indeed time for everything to be sold out.
Those who had gotten fruit salad were fine.
But those who had been waiting in line for a long time without getting any fruit salad started to go mad, collapsing and crawling in frustration:
“Boss, we have such a big boss! Those bodyguards kidnapped our beloved boss!!!”
“That looks like Boss Jian’s personal bodyguards.”
“Such delicious fruit salad—will we ever have a chance to eat it again, wuuuuu…”
“Even though I got to eat it, I want more! I could eat it for a lifetime, I’ll never get tired of it! Where does Boss sell or open his stall or shop???”
“Don’t you guys realize? Boss Jian drives Maybachs. It seems like he’s not doing this for money, but purely as a hobby—”
The customers froze for a moment.
The next second, they were crying even harder!!!
If Boss Jian were doing this to make money, they could chase him to the ends of the earth and always find his fruit salad.
But… he didn’t need money!!!
Wang Xiaofu wiped his tears, muttering to himself: “How could there be anything money can’t solve in this world? If I can’t eat Boss Jian’s fruit salad, what’s the point of this huge demolition compensation…”
In the kitchen, a few of the staff were chasing after the direction where Boss Jian had left, shouting:
“Master, you forgot about us, your apprentices! We promised to go to the Western Heavens together!”
Even Huo Huan started to panic.
Since childhood, everything had come too easily for her. Whatever she wanted, others would take the initiative to offer it without her having to ask.
But at this moment, she clutched her chest, feeling her heartbeat quicken.
— She had a premonition that even she, to taste Boss Jian’s food again, would have to go through untold hardships.
The newbie protection period was over!
Huo Huan’s gaze shifted from her initial naive, sheltered, rich-girl innocence to one of determination, showing the demeanor of a strong, independent woman:
“To taste Boss Jian’s fruit salad again, I need to mature. I need to stand on my own.”
The entire KTV turned into a chaotic mess.
Crying, pleading, running after the Maybach, and going mad because they couldn’t get the fruit salad—
But what no one noticed was:
Just before Jian Yunlan was carried away by the bodyguards, he quickly slipped something into the hands of the boy who had been quietly peeling grapes.
In a dim corner of the KTV.
Yu Ming, with his eyelashes lowered, stared at the box of fruit salad in his hands.
The fruit salad was illuminated by the soft yellow light of a small night lamp, filled with watermelon, peaches, strawberries, and avocado, all buried in a creamy, tangy yogurt. On top of the yogurt were crushed peanuts and honey beans, emitting a strong milky and fruity fragrance.
On the fruit salad’s take-out box, a small note was stuck, with two large characters written in a flowing script:
“Salary.”
It was also accompanied by a check for fifty thousand yuan.
Yu Ming carefully read the note.
When he flipped it over, he suddenly saw another line of text:
“7 PM at the entrance of Lotus Pond Residential Area, Boss Jian’s spicy hotpot stall, welcome to come and try~”
Yu Ming: “…”
Yu Ming: “Spicy hotpot…?”
A childhood memory of being burnt by the spice, tears flowing and throat on fire, surged up.
But this time, for some reason, Yu Ming thought of the strong fragrance he had smelled in Aunt Song’s take-out box before.
The rich aroma of beef bone soup, the steamy spicy flavor…
Aunt Song had said that the spicy hotpot was packed by the Yang family.
…Boss Jian also sells spicy hotpot?
*
The next day.
Even though Jian Yunlan had stayed up late selling at the stall last night, he still woke up early today, and immediately stood at the door, looking as if he were studying something.
Hu Dangui, wearing bunny pajamas, yawned and sleepily asked the butler, “Uncle Butler, what is the master doing?”
The butler bowed slightly to Hu Dangui, “Miss Hu, the young master discovered a new function of our villa, and he’s testing it now.”
Meanwhile, Taotie was lying on the sofa, holding the tablet that Jian Yunlan had bought for him, writing a report, his handsome face expressionless. Hearing their conversation, Taotie didn’t even look back and said, “Hmph, these humans are so dramatic, it’s just a little trick of shifting things around.”
…In this house, there were three different terms used for addressing Jian Yunlan: ‘master,’ ‘young master,’ and ‘human.’ Yet, despite the differences, there was no communication barrier between them.
Hu Dangui grabbed a snack from the coffee table and chewed it as she walked up to Jian Yunlan, “Master, master, what’s for lunch today?”
“Let the butler make it for you,” Jian Yunlan replied, “I’m studying this door, I don’t have time.”
“Nooo, I want to eat the lunch you make!” Hu Dangui pouted, her eyes filling with tears.
The next second, Jian Yunlan suddenly pulled open the door. Outside was a world of ice and snow, and a gust of cold wind blew, freezing Hu Dangui’s tears to her face.
Hu Dangui: “?”
The penguin outside: “Goo goo goo?”
“Indeed, whatever I think of, it just appears outside the door…” Jian Yunlan closed the door and muttered to himself, “But no matter where it’s teleported, it’s still in the current small world, it can’t cross worlds.”
Yes, this morning Jian Yunlan had woken up groggy and opened the door, only to find that the scenery outside was completely different.
It seemed related to the reward from the forced task he completed last night.
Not only the villa, but even the servants inside the villa seemed to have changed—they all had more energy, like real humans. Before, they had still felt somewhat like ‘NPCs.’
Jian Yunlan silently thought “desert” and opened the door.
Outside was a blazing sun, and the vast desert stretched out as far as the eye could see. In the middle of the desert, a traveler was riding a camel, the jingling of camel bells ringing in the air.
A gust of hot wind mixed with sand blew in, melting the ice crystals off Hu Dangui’s frozen tears and covering her face with dust.
Hu Dangui: “?”
The camel outside: “Le le le?”
Hu Dangui: “…”
“This function doesn’t really help with my stall, but it’s interesting,” Jian Yunlan said excitedly, “It’s like Doraemon’s Anywhere Door!”
Taotie, lying on the sofa, scoffed: “What Doraemon, I, the great Taotie, am far more impressive than that foreign import.”
This simple shifting of locations wasn’t anything special—it was something Taotie could do with a snap of his fingers. Not only within worlds, but even across worlds, as long as this human asked, Taotie could easily do it.
Could that blue fat guy compare to him?
Jian Yunlan: “Yes, yes, you’re not a foreign import, you’re a local specialty.”
Taotie: “?”
That sounded a bit weird.
Despite this, Jian Yunlan was still excited about this new discovery.
—Who didn’t fantasize about having an Anywhere Door when they were young?
However, from the perspective of convenience for setting up the stall, the most suitable location was still…
Jian Yunlan closed the door and opened it again.
Outside, there were birds singing and flowers blooming, with just the right amount of sunshine.
Behind the Lotus Pond Residential Area was a small mountain, and the villa was located at the foot of this small hill. At 8 AM, Aunt Song opened the door, wanting to breathe in the fresh air outside, when she saw that the long-vacant house next door also had its door open.
A handsome young man walked out from next door, smiled faintly at her, and greeted, “Aunt Song, hello, I’ve just moved in.”
Aunt Song rubbed her eyes, then rubbed them again.
After a while, she suddenly jumped up with unbelievable speed, letting out a sharp scream, “Old Song, Old Song, come see!!!”
Uncle Song, who was about to go out for Tai Chi, looked confused: “?”
He was dragged to the door by his wife, dazed, and greeted Jian Yunlan.
“Boss Jian, Boss Jian moved next to us,” Aunt Song said, wiping her tears with emotion. “This is such a huge blessing. From now on, we can—no, I mean, help each other as neighbors. It will be so convenient!”
Jian Yunlan: “…”
It seems like Aunt Song just let her true thoughts slip!
*
3 PM.
Jian Yunlan promptly hopped on his tricycle and headed to the market to buy supplies.
As soon as he entered the market, he was greeted warmly by various market vendors. The reception was so enthusiastic it could rival that of a celebrity. Several people immediately lit up and surrounded him:
“Boss Jian, we just got fresh lotus roots, take them! We won’t charge you!”
“Hey, I’ve got some really good beef here, already cut for you, just take it, take it~”
“I made extra sesame paste at home, and it’s yours, free for Boss Jian!”
The person speaking was Old Zhao, the sesame paste vendor, who had even brought his two dogs along. The dogs affectionately surrounded Jian Yunlan, licking his fingers.
Other shoppers at the market were stunned by the scene.
What was so special about this young man that made every vendor in the market admire him so?
Many of the vendors enthusiastically kept pushing items onto Jian Yunlan, but he felt awkward about accepting them. Some vendors even slipped goods into his tricycle when he wasn’t looking.
…As a result, Jian Yunlan hadn’t even finished half of his rounds at the market, and his tricycle was already full!
Jian Yunlan: “…”
He thought something was off with the tricycle—it was getting slower and slower.
When he looked at the backseat of the tricycle, it was filled with all kinds of vegetables, carrots, pork, lamb, beef… The vendors had all given him the best of what they had, saving the best for him. They wouldn’t even sell to others and just gave it to him for free.
This was their way of thanking Jian Yunlan for saving those dogs.
Jian Yunlan was very touched and secretly scanned the QR codes to pay for everything at the stalls.
…It felt like a spy mission, scanning while making sure the vendors didn’t notice, or else it would be a problem if they caught on.
It was quite thrilling.
After making the rounds and almost finishing his shopping, Jian Yunlan suddenly heard a loud call:
“Come and have a look~ Fresh cow’s trachea! Perfect for hotpot, spicy hotpot, and barbecue!”
The voice belonged to a clear-eyed college student who was helping out at the family stall. His actions were still a bit clumsy.
Jian Yunlan took a closer look. The trachea was a healthy pale yellow color, the blood evenly distributed. Though it hadn’t been rated by the culinary god’s eye, the quality appeared very good.
When the student saw Jian Yunlan, he continued to promote the trachea at first. But as Jian Yunlan got closer, for some reason, the student suddenly twitched his nose and blushed, saying, “Bro, you smell so good.”
Jian Yunlan: “??”
“Ah, I didn’t mean it like that!” The student waved his hand. “It’s your pheromone scent, is it from spicy hotpot? It smells amazing…”
“Are you about to enter your sensitive period?”
Normally, pheromone scents aren’t that strong, unless it’s the sensitive period.
The student couldn’t help but touch his nose.
This handsome guy’s pheromone smelled so delicious, like the spicy, fragrant flavor of Sichuan hotpot. It made you hungry just by smelling it.
The student stared at Jian Yunlan, saliva almost dripping.
Student: “…Sorry, that was rude.”
Jian Yunlan: “What is the sensitive period?”
Seeing that Jian Yunlan didn’t know what the sensitive period was, the student eagerly explained: It’s similar to Omega’s heat period. During an Alpha’s sensitive period, they become more irritable, impulsive, and their inner desires are amplified. They can’t control their pheromones, and they may have an instinctive desire to dominate.
“If you have an Omega partner, it would be much better,” the student said. “Of course, you could also take inhibitors.”
“Oh,” Jian Yunlan nodded, thinking he might need to buy some inhibitors.
But soon, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind.
After all, nothing was more important than running his stall.
*
Multiverse Live Stream Room.
The atmosphere in the “Dark River, Bright Light” section has been thoroughly heated up by last night’s forced mission.
This time, the elimination rate of the forced mission was even higher than previous years, with more than 60% of the streamers eliminated. The remaining streamers are mostly quite exceptional, so there’s a lot to look forward to.
[The elimination rate this time is too high! So many big streamers were eliminated.]
[Most of the survivors only made it through by completing the countdown, except for Boss Jian. His success truly can’t be replicated (facepalm).]
[Jianmen.jpg]
[Stop with the Jianmen already! It’s the third day! The key plot point is coming up! No matter how powerful Jian Yunlan is, he can’t rewrite the plot, right?]
[Don’t even mention Jian Yunlan, even the top streamer Liyue, who nearly completed the mission last time, couldn’t change the plot…]
[I’m a new viewer, what’s this plot?]
[Today is the day Mingming’s gland gets injured. I can’t watch it.]
The plot progression of “Dark River, Bright Light” is known for its fast pace.
For example, on the third day after the dimensional space opened, the most critical plot event of the early stage was about to occur, leading directly to the greatest tragedy in Yu Ming’s life—
That night, Yu Ming heroically saved several children from a group of knife-wielding thugs.
As a result, his glands were severely injured.
He had a high probability of evolving into an Alpha, but because of this injury to his gland, coupled with long-term malnutrition, he directly evolved into an Omega.
This result not only shattered Yu Ming’s dreams, leaving him unable to join the military academy, but also led him to be endlessly entangled and forced by Fu Changfeng, sliding deeper and deeper into despair.
This was the most hopeless turning point in Yu Ming’s life.
[Last time, when Liyue tried the challenge, they were lucky and almost stopped the thugs early, but didn’t keep an eye on the running children, who were taken hostage. In the end, Yu Ming still sacrificed himself to save the children…]
[I wonder if there will be a miracle this time?]
[It feels impossible.]
[I suspect this is a plot kill. Without this plot, how could Yu Ming evolve into an Omega? If he doesn’t evolve, what’s the point of the forced love plot with the sibling trope?]
A “plot kill” refers to a pre-set storyline in the original script that cannot be rewritten by the challengers.
Although the official Multiverse Live Stream Room has never admitted the existence of “plot kills,” viewers have gradually deduced some clues from previous challenges.
— For example, the storyline of Yu Ming’s evolution is something that no streamer has been able to change despite their best efforts, so it must be a plot kill!
Even the Handstand Hotpot Brother, who had been silent for a while after being embarrassed by Jian Yunlan, had started to make a scene in the main chat of the section:
“I swore before that if anyone completed Dark River, Bright Light, I’d drink the whole old hotpot in one go… but it didn’t seem exciting enough.”
“How about this: if any streamer can cure Yu Ming or stop him from getting his gland injured, I’ll do a handstand and drink the whole hotpot! [Image]!”
Whoa.
The audience was stunned.
Handstand Hotpot Brother had just made an oath!
Many viewers quickly went to his own live stream to leave comments:
[Hotpot Brother, where do you get all this confidence from? There are so many talented new streamers this time.]
[Yeah, yeah, drinking that huge pot, you might end up in the gastroenterology ER, right? =?=]
Hotpot Brother grinned: “I live right next to a hospital, and my mom’s the chief physician of gastroenterology.”
The audience: “…”
No wonder, you came prepared.
“But,” Hotpot Brother confidently patted his chest, “I’m not worried at all. Mark my words, no one will be able to redeem Yu Ming!”
[Do you remember Jian Yunlan, who made you eat crow before…]
[Hotpot Brother, you know, Jian Yunlan’s food has the miraculous power to heal people and bring them back to life. What if Yu Ming eats Jian Yunlan’s spicy hotpot and heals right there? (.)]
Hotpot Brother laughed loudly: “Ha! Ha! Ha! What a joke! Yu Ming? He hates spicy hotpot the most!”
A comment bluntly pointed out:
[Hotpot Brother, how do you know Yu Ming hates spicy hotpot?]
Hotpot Brother’s smile froze.
Yes, the truth was, Handstand Hotpot Brother had a hidden identity.
…He was Yu Ming’s die-hard fan.
In the past, like other viewers, Hotpot Brother only watched live streams of dominant male protagonists and wasn’t interested in any drama or BL content, considering it all to be “stuff that girls liked.”
But later, by chance, he watched a Dark River, Bright Light stream and was captivated by the lonely, yet brilliant, passionate young man inside the story.
Hotpot Brother had always hoped that a streamer would be able to change Yu Ming’s fate, allowing him to fulfill his dreams and serve his country.
However, after repeated disappointments and watching Yu Ming slide into despair…
Upside-Down Hotpot Brother became twisted!
He started believing that no one could change Yu Ming’s fate, yet deep down, he still held a glimmer of hope for a miracle.
That’s why he kept making oaths by eating hotpot upside down, hoping for a reverse effect.
But each time, his predictions came true, and he was crowned the “Great Prophet” of melodramatic plots by the viewers in the Multiverse Live Stream Room…
[A lot of old fans don’t even know Yu Ming hates spicy hotpot. How did Hotpot Brother know?]
“Heh,” Hotpot Brother’s gaze shifted awkwardly, “Well, occasionally, I’ve heard about it. Can’t remember where I heard it from.”
“…But I can guarantee you, Yu Ming would never eat spicy hotpot!”
One comment floated by:
[Really?]
[Then why is Yu Ming already standing in front of Yang’s stall in Jian Yunlan’s live stream?]
Hotpot Brother: “……???”
He stared in disbelief, his eyes wide open, and quickly clicked into Jian Yunlan’s live stream.
The screen displayed a scene:
Yu Ming stood at the door of Yang Moufu’s shop, raising his eyes and gazing seriously at the sign.
His back was straight, like an elegant orchid tree, causing passersby to glance over in surprise.
The boy’s nose twitched slightly, sniffing the aroma carried by the wind…
Yu Ming frowned, his expression a bit confused.
— The smell didn’t seem quite right.
